Fragments: Exordium
by 1sirus2
Summary: In a land of several very large groups of cats, corruption and greed is rampant. In this six book series the actions and stories of the main characters will be explored by an omniscient narrator centering around unimportant civilians. Follow Sunclan, Moonclan, and rouges under the leadership of Crimsonrain and Blackheart as they deal with internal and external affairs.


Wind berated the branches of the oak tree and shook the bushes to their roots. Leaves were being pulled off of their thin grips of the branches they call home. They cascaded down upon the cats, as it was leaf-fall and they couldn't grip the tree hard enough.

"Greenscar!"

Rain-heavy clouds swirled across the light blue sky in the mid-day sun. The rain's near arrival was obvious, and the wind was a sure teller that it was to be a terribly cold rainstorm, as it dug into a cat's very fur, chilling even their bones. The apprentices that were currently training were disturbed from their concentration by the chilly breeze; they began to shiver despite their thick fur. A couple light coated apprentices were having a less than deplorable time in the freezing cold wind.

"Greenscar!"

The gray-coated war-hero turned his head at the calling of his name, looking away from the apprentices he was overseeing to his friend's worried call. The wind was beginning to unsettle him, as it was getting quite intense. In the part of the territory that they were in the wind can easily get bad enough to carry away a den only made of light sticks and twigs, as the northern border was very windy moorland.

"Greenscar!" Risingmoon yelled again, this time clearly agitated at his friend's blatant ignoring of him; his voice began to get closer to a hiss and his fur bristled a bit. He jabbed Greenscar with his paw, trying to get his attention. His rising anger made the jab a rather enjoyable one at that.

"What?" an irate Greenscar finally said to his silver pelted friend, because he could no longer cope with his prodding. He had heard Risingmoon but continually ignored him, because he had more important things to do at that moment. Now he locked his green eyes with Risingmoon's blue.

"We should call it a day. The wind is too bad and the apprentices are tired, we'll let the mentor tomorrow pick up where we left off. We're not getting anywhere anyways." He spoke rationally to his friend and fellow war-hero, they'd been friends since training and he knew all too well how stubborn Greenscar was. It was Greenscar's task today to oversee this apprentice camp's training for the day, and Risingmoon had opted to keep him company, having had nothing to do all day, but ended up doing most if not all the work, being better with the younger cats. Although in their friendship Greenscar had rode Risingmoon to importance and respect, sometimes literally, they were inseperable. Risingmoon knew this but didn't care, as Greenscar had the skills to match that of any rouge or Moonclanner. That didn't matter much these days anymore, but it didn't matter, as the occasional battles were vicious and cats died in mass numbers, on both sides. Risingmoon had been in a couple battles, and survived to tell. Greenscar hadn't been in any battles, but he often trained his skills in the hopes that one day he will prove his worth in battle. Perhaps he wished for battle a little too much.

"No! There's no need, it's just some wind. It'll give them some experience with dealing with the situation for when they're older, that way they aren't cowards afraid of getting their pelts wet. Anyways, at this age these cats would already be half-way to warrior in Moonclan, and they'd already be fully trained if they were a rouge. We need to keep up!" He replied in a very indignant voice, it was obvious he just didn't want to get in trouble if the apprentices made no progress. Though he spoke the truth, it was only partially. In Moonclan the apprentices were fully trained in mass and then made warriors at a young age to gain experience as they age, rather harsh to the young-uns but that' how some leader were. But the rouges had different training ethics, Crimsonrain being rather vigorous with the way cats were trained. He has two moon-old kits taught the skills of a full-grown cat, such as hunting, fighting, and basic healing, until they can pass an exam set by Crimsonrain which tests them on what they have learned in the past moons. This test is said to be rather difficult, with most adult clan-cats not being able to pass it; with such a difficult exam cats have to completely understand to pass. A cat passing the first time around is said to be rather rare, that cat will usually be offered a difficult position. When they finally pass they are paired with an adult member of opposite personality and must accompany this cat for all things. During this time they develop their own tactics, skills, experiences, and demeanor. When they, Crimsonrain, and their pair feels they are ready they are announced a fully grown and matured cat. Their training can take anywhere between six and nine seasons. Cats that are born and grow up under Crimsonrain are said to be equal in every way to a Sunclan war-hero, making them a tricky match for even the most well-trained clanner. Fortunately, they are less common than the standard rouges, and can be easily picked from a crowd for their size and posture.

After Greenscar said that a large stick came apart from the rest of the den in which it rested and the wind velocity, being rather fast, carried it to and past his head, just missing him by less than a rat-tail. His eyes widened in fear and apprehension.

He then reconsidered what he just said and decided "Alright apprentices, we're done for today!" He announced to the young cats. All the apprentices rejoiced and ran back to their dens with glee to escape the cold breeze that was outside. When they were all out of sight Risingmoon released a sigh.

He said to Greenscar with relief "Thank Starclan that's done with. I was tired of doing all the work you were supposed to be doing again." He teased Greenscar.

Greenscar protested "I did a lot of it, I woke them up and… and…" He thought of what he had done that day at a loss for what to say.

Risingmoon laughed and said "You're having trouble cause I did absolutely everything." He bowled his friend over with his paw.

Greenscar crouched down and prepared for a leap, "Awww, really?" He then jumped on Risingmoon's back in a mock attack and brought him to the ground.

Risingmoon yelped in surprise as he was brought down but quickly rolled Greenscar off of him and pinned him down. He chuckled at his victory as Greenscar went limp; he then said "Done already? C'mon, you can do better than that!" He smiled at Greenscar.

Greenscar laughed, to Risingmoon's surprise, and said "Not yet!" He then kicked hard upwards, launching Risingmoon off of him. He then stood up and teased Risingmoon a bit "See, not the best are you?"

Risingmoon stood up and gave him a half smile and then looked at the sky. He was surprised to see the sun going down and motioned to Greenscar that they needed to get back to their camp before the shipments of herbs got in, that way no cat would be suspicious about why they arrived so late. They walked along the well-trodden trail to get back to their camp in the center of the territory. They barely spoke on the way there to preserve the calm silence. Soon they began to hear the sounds of talking that can be heard near a large crowd. They knew past this next hill they would be able to see the camp.

After they covered the hill the main camp stood in all its glory. From the hill they could look down into the massive center of activity. They could clearly see the Prey rooms to the right where cats went to get their portion. In the middle of the camp was the ring that acted as a performance and announcement stage. To the left were the war-hero barracks, as only war-heroes and higher lived in the main camp. Finally towards the back one could see Lightstar's den mad of a large hollow tree, next to that was Deathstopper's office, where he oversaw all medical information of the clan. On the other side of Lightstar's den was the cracked rock that housed the deputy Silentclaw. In the front of the camp stood the gate, which would open when they were identified as Sunclan cats. They took the first steps toward their den after a long day of work.


End file.
